Allied Aviation/Molded Products

Allied Aviation of Dundalk, MD had a contract with the US Navy to construct amphibious gliders made of wood. These were built by laying multiple layers of veneers over a mold, a heat set resin in between each layer, and then baking to give a shaped plywood component. At the end of the war the transition was made to building boats using these same construction techniques. A small number of canoes (16' Guide) and sailboats (12' Tempest) were built, but success was achieved with the type of powerboat called a runabout, which was marketed under the Whirlwind brand. Some 15,000 watercraft were produced of about 40 different designs during the 17 year life of the company. In 1962 an auction was conducted with all assets sold. Corporate records have not survived.

In 1947 the boatbuilding business was sold to 3 Allied Aviation employees: Ed Hewitt, Charley Abramo and Charlie Wingo. The name of the new company became Molded Products and the operation moved to York Road in Cockeysville, MD.

Called the Guide in a 1949 catalog, the early canoes were built with 5 layers of 1/32" mahogany veneer, which were laid in an alternating herringbone pattern along the keel line. With later canoes the strips of veneers ran gunwale to gunwale. They were 16' long. Stems, decks, inwales, trim strips, thwarts, seat frames were all mahogany, the hull was varnished, and had a 1/2" brass stemband. It is not known how many canoes were built, perhaps less than a hundred.

An article about these canoes is found in Wooden Canoe, issue 199, February 2017.

Thanks, Alick. That article prompted an email to me from a WCHA member in California who owns a Molded Products all mahogany canoe which is set up for sailing, and he uses it. His photos show a few differences from mine. But this is Great! because I've learned something about these canoes. Tom McCloud

Thanks, Alick. That article prompted an email to me from a WCHA member in California who owns a Molded Products all mahogany canoe which is set up for sailing, and he uses it. His photos show a few differences from mine. But this is Great! because I've learned something about these canoes. Tom McCloud